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www.makefoodmatter.ca
Using Social Media for AdvocacyAdvocacyAdvocacy is the process of sharing information in
strategic ways to increase awareness and educate about a
particular issue, for the purposes of building support and
commitment to positively change or influence an issue.
Advocacy can take many shapes and forms, and can be
undertaken by an individual, organization or an array of
organizations. It is an effective tool to mobilize research
into real action.
Advocacy activities involve raising the awareness of
political and community leaders; promoting the creation
or reform of policies; and ensuring the implementation
and enforcement of current policies. Building public
awareness is a key component of advocacy because
investment in an issue is where the processes for change
often begin.
2015
AdvocacyUsing Social Media for Advocacy
Social media can be an effective, low-cost
communication method for community
organizations. This resource describes tips to
optimize your social media use and outlines
effective ways to “Make Food Matter” using the
various platforms described.
This resource includes:
1. General principles for using social media
2. Create a social media strategy
3. Establishing a Facebook and Twitter Account
4. How to “Make Food Matter” on Twitter,
Facebook and Instagram
5. How to Manage your Multiple Social Media
Accounts Together
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Advocacy: Using Social Media for Advocacy
3
Social media can be an effective, low-cost communication method for community organizations. Many social media websites are gaining popularity including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, and Pinterest. This resource will focus on Facebook and Twitter as one way to get you started on spreading your message.
General Principles for Using Social
Media ❉ Be genuine. Let your personality show, use
humor, and be transparent about who is posting content. For instance, if multiple people are posting on one organization’s account use colleague’s initials to differentiate the posts.
❉ Stay focused and be reliable. Post relevant content, share credible information from trusted sources, and try to post at least once a day. Don’t forget to comment on other user’s posts too!
❉ Get social. Above all else, create a conversation to meaningfully engage with your audience. The more you engage with like-minded individuals and organizations, the more likely you’ll be able to build a connection that can extend outside of the Internet. But keep in mind - not everyone will use this medium so don’t base all your communication solely around social media!
Create a Social Media Strategy ❉ Set your objectives. Is your social media goal
narrow (publicizing an event) or broad (building and engaging with a community or coalition)?
❉ Identify the audience you would like to reach. Are you primarily communicating with people who are already familiar with your organization? Are you trying to reach politicians or celebrities for greater exposure? Or are you reaching out to people you’ve identified as potential members and supporters?
❉ Select the social media platforms you plan to focus on. Easy to use social media websites, such as Facebook and Twitter, are a great way to start out.
❉ Gather resources and materials to share through social media.
❉ Appoint someone or a team of people to manage your social media presence. Try to get someone who is familiar with technology and able to check your social media accounts at least once per day.
Adapted from American Association of University Women -
Establishing a Twitter or Facebook
Account
❉ Account set up – You will need to set up a username (Twitter handle), 160 character profile description and an image that represents your organization.
❉ Messaging – The maximum message size is 140 characters. Try to keep your tweets to <120 characters so users can easily retweet your messages without editing.
❉ Getting noticed – Use relevant hashtags (#MakeFoodMatter or #MFM) so users can follow the conversation – who knows, your topic may even start trending!
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❉ Know who to tweet – Find out the usernames of well-known professionals in the field, politicians, or even celebrities that may support your discussion.
❉ Followers – Track how many new followers (the people that see your tweets) you get per week. Gaining more followers allows your message to have the potential to spread to larger networks if more people are re-tweeting your posts.
❉ communication – create a Facebook page for your organization to share information and engage people in discussion.
❉ Posting – Try to keep your posts short, on-topic, conversational, and include an image whenever possible.
❉ Outreach – If you have a meeting, rally or any other event that you want the community to attend – you can create a Facebook event and link it to your page for greater reach.
resource: Using Social Media for Digital Advocacy,
Community Tool Box:
http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/advocacy/direct-action/electronic-advocacy/main
How to “Make Food Matter” on TwitterTwitter is a microblogging and online account that communicates using “tweets” that are posts of 140 characters in length. Those tweets show up on the user’s homepage, and are delivered to the user’s network of followers (to learn more about the mechanics of Twitter, check out the Mashable’s link below under ‘resources’). Twitter has been used as an effective advocacy tool for many issues, and has the potential to create public awareness very quickly (e.g. when a tweet goes viral).
Who can you follow and tweet in Nova
Scotia? Food Security
FoodARc- @FoodARc
Dietitians Network- @Dietitian_NS
Feed Nova Scotia- @FEEDNoVAScoTIA
Local Food Nova Scotia- @LocalFoodNS
Select Nova Scotia- @SelectNS
Taste of Nova Scotia- @TasteofNS
Slow Food NS- @SlowFoodNS
Parker Street Hfx- @parkerstreethfx
NS Food Policy- @NSFoodPolicy
Ecology Action center- @Ecology Action
Nourish NS- @Nourish NS
Other
Hope Blooms- @hopebloomshfx
NS Farmers’ Market- @FarmersMarketNS
Farmers Markets’ NS- @MarketFreshNS
The carrot- @carrotHFX
Yarmouth Farm Market- @YarFarmMarket
common Roots URban Farm- @cRUrbanFarm
Deepr Roots- @DeeperRoots2
Food Secure canada (FSc-RAD)-
@FoodSecurecAN
USc canada- @USccanada
Food Banks canada- @foodbankscanada
canadian Asociation of Food Studies-
@cAFSfoodstudies
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Want to Use #Hashtags? Try these!
❉ #MakeFoodMatter
❉ #foodsecurity
❉ #food4all
❉ #FoodSecureNS
❉ #AcT4cFS
❉ #NSLocalFoodShift
Want to contact your local politician? Here
are some twitter handles:
❉ @StephenMcNeil - Liberal
❉ @AbadkhanNS - NDP
❉ @JohnPercyNS - Green
❉ @Eddieorrell – Pc
For more twitter handles, check out these sites:
• http://politwitter.ca/page/canadian-provin-cial-twitters/province/ns
• https://twitter.com/studentvote/nova-scotia-mlas/members
Shorten your post:
With only 140 characters it can be difficult to fit all the information you want to in a tweet. To save characters, shorten long website links using: https://bitly.com
Share your knowledge.
When attending community dialogues or presentations be sure to tweet what you are learning!
resource: For how to set up and use your twitter account – Twitter Guidebook by Mashable
http://mashable.com/guidebook/twitter/
How to “Make Food Matter” on FacebookFacebook has millions and millions of users that you can tap into to follow and support your advocacy efforts. Setting up a Facebook page for your advocacy effort or organization can be an important step in getting your message out there. Below are some resources to help you get started with Facebook and best ways to optimize your use of it.
resources
1. How to set up a Facebook account and the basics on use – How to Use Facebook by Mahalo, http://www.mahalo.com/how-to-use-facebook/
2. Getting Started on Facebook for an Advoca-cy Campaign, http://www.votility.com/blog/bid/310235/Getting-Started-on-Facebook-for-an-Advocacy-campaign
3. 10 Tips for Non-Profits on Facebook, http://www.insidefacebook.com/2010/02/12/10-tips-for-non-profits-on-facebook/
4. Building your presence with Facebook Pages: https://4good.org/connectva/building-your-presence-with-facebook-pages-a-guide-for-causes-and-nonprofits
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HoW To ‘MAkE FooD MATTER’ oN INSTAGrAMInstagram is an online photo and video sharing social media site. It is only relatively recently being used for advocacy efforts, but there are many creative ways you can use Instagram to tell your story through powerful visuals. You can use Instagram to amplify the message of your Facebook page or on its own.
one way to use Instagram to ‘Make Food Matter’ is to ask the general public to respond with images to questions such as: How do you access local food?; What is the price of your favourite vegetable/fruit at your grocery store?; How much was your grocery bill?; What was on your plate today?
resource: How to Find and Leverage Advocates on Instagram: aimed at people with a brand, but
very useful tips that can apply to a wider audience. http://blog.sumall.com/journal/find-leverage-ad-
vocates-instagram.html
How to MAnAge Multiple
SociAl MediA AccountS If you are using multiple social media accounts for your advocacy work (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, etc.), you can use Hootsuite to manage them all together more efficiently. For example, if you come across an article that you would like to share with your followers, you can post that article to all your social media accounts with one step through Hootsuite. To explore your options with this software, check out the website below.
resource: Hootsuite, https://hootsuite.com/
